physics

Stephen W. Wilkins

Stephen W. Wilkins is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stephen W. Wilkins rather than just read about it. In short: Stephen William Wilkins (February 15, 1946 - March 25, 2013) was an Australian physicist known for his contributions to the field of Phase-contrast X-ray imaging. Biography Wilkins' parents were originally from Brno, Czechoslovakia, but emigrated and came to Australia in 1939.

Key takeaways

Stephen W. Wilkins belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stephen W. Wilkins to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stephen W. Wilkins from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stephen William Wilkins (February 15, 1946 - March 25, 2013) was an Australian physicist known for his contributions to the field of Phase-contrast X-ray imaging.

Biography Wilkins' parents were originally from Brno, Czechoslovakia, but emigrated and came to Australia in 1939. Wilkins attended Preshil, The Margaret Lyttle Memorial School in Kew. Wilkins grew up in Melbourne and studied for a BSc in physics and mathematics between 1964 and 1967 at the University of Melbourne. He got his PhD in 1972 at the same university with a thesis titled "Correlations and Interactions in Binary Alloys". In 1975, he became a research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). He advanced to eventually become Chief Research Scientist in 1998. Wilkins unexpectedly died from a heart attack on March 25, 2013.

Research Wilkins is perhaps best known for his work on phase-contrast X-ray imaging (PCXI). His article on PCXI with laboratory, i.e. polychromatic, sources was published in Nature in 1996 and it is the most cited article in the X-ray phase-contrast research field with over 2000 citations. Wilkins had an instrumental role in the conception and launch of the BigDiff beamline, BL20B, at the Photon Factory in Japan. The work to realize this beamline began in 1985 and the first experiments were conducted in 1992. This X-ray scattering beamline was primarily used for X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The beamline was decommissioned on February 25, 2013.

Awards 1997 - Walter Boas Medal from the Australian Institute of Physics. Shared with Keith Nugent. 2003 - Honorary Professor, Department of Physics, Monash University.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stephen W. Wilkins

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stephen W. Wilkins claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stephen W. Wilkins before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stephen W. Wilkins ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stephen W. Wilkins

In research: Stephen W. Wilkins appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stephen W. Wilkins in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stephen W. Wilkins is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, 2013 deaths, Australian physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stephen W. Wilkins outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stephen W. Wilkins in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stephen W. Wilkins means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stephen W. Wilkins out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stephen W. Wilkins in simple terms?

Stephen William Wilkins (February 15, 1946 - March 25, 2013) was an Australian physicist known for his contributions to the field of Phase-contrast X-ray imaging. Biography Wilkins' parents were originally from Brno, Czechoslovakia, but emigrated and came to Australia in 1939.

Why does Stephen W. Wilkins matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stephen W. Wilkins?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stephen W. Wilkins.